Gabriel Rivas

Position:
Alpine
Height:
6-0
Weight:
null
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
St. Jean De Maurienne, France (Universite Savoie/French Ski Federation)

Top Career Slalom Finish: First (Four Times, last 2011 Utah Invitatoinal)
Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: First (2010 Nevada Invitational)

Honors

2009 NCAA Champion (Slalom)
2009 First-Team All-America (Slalom)
2009 First-Team All-RMISA
2009 RMISA Skier of the Week (Denver Invitational)
2009 CU Athlete of the Week (March 9-15, NCAA Championships)
2010 First-Team All-RMISA
2010 RMISA Skier of the Week (Nevada Invitational)
2011 Ski Racing Magazine Male Collegiate Alpine Skier of the Year
2011 First-Team All-American (Slalom)
2011 Second-Team All-American (Giant Slalom)
2011 First-Team All-RMISA
2011 RMISA Skier of the Year (RMISA Qualifiers)

Career at Colorado – Rivas ended his career with two All-America performances helping the Buffs to the 2011 NCAA Championship. In his career, he won five races and had 17 podium appearances. He won an individual NCAA Championship and was a three-time first-team All-RMISA performer. In 40 career races, he finished 37 and had 36 top 20 finishes, 27 top 10 to go with his 17 podiums and five wins. Especially strong in slalom action, he had 15 career races with 12 podium appearances including four wins, five runner-up performances and three third place finishes.

2011 (Senior) – Rivas concluded his career at Colorado as one of the main reasons why the Buffaloes were able to capture the NCAA Championship with a second place finish in the slalom race at NCAA Championships and a sixth place finish in the giant slalom. He competed in 12 races and finished all 12 having to hike only once. The other 11 races he finished in the top 10 every time even when he didn’t run a particularly clean race. He had seven podium appearances in those seven races with one race victory, the slalom race at the Utah Invitational. He raced five times in slalom action and other than the one race he hiked in, he finished in the top four each time, including the aforementioned win at Utah and a second place finish at NCAA Championships. He also took third at the RMISA Championships. In seven GS races, he finished in the top 10 each race with four podium appearances. His sixth place GS finish at NCAA Championships earned him a second-team All-America honor while his second place finish in the slalom race earned him a first-team honor.

2010 (Junior) – Rivas continued to established himself as one of the best slalom skiers in the country as he finished four of six races and had two runner-up and two third place finishes in those races. He came up on some bad luck at the NCAA Championships attempting to defend his individual title from 2009, as he slipped and then because of a rule change, didn’t hike back far enough and was disqualified. He opened the season with an injury in his first race of the campaign at the Utah Invitational in a giant slalom race and he was subsequently withdrawn from the slalom race. He rebounded to finish in the top six in his next seven races culminating in his first giant slalom victory as a collegian in the Nevada Invitational, where he also took home second in the slalom race and was named the RMISA Skier of the Week. He earned first-team All-RMISA and finished 10th in the MVP balloting despite missing three races, finishing higher than any skier missing more than one race. Had he completed all his races, he would’ve pushed for the RMISA MVP honor for men’s alpine. He became more consistent in his giant slalom finishes and after getting injured in the first race of the season rebounded to record four straight five straight top 10 finishes.

2009 (Sophomore) – In his first season as a Buff, Rivas did what no other CU skier had done since 2000, when he won the NCAA individual championship in the men’s slalom event by over a second to wrap up the year in fashion. The win was one of three individual slalom wins for him in 2009 and he also laid claim to a pair of runner-up finishes during the season. Rivas proved to be almost equally as dangerous in the giant slalom throughout the year as well, with back-to-back third place finishes in the Western Qualifier and DU Invitational later in the season, both on the same Winter Park hill towards the end of the season to solidify himself as CU’s top male alpine skier. Rivas earned RMISA Skier of the Week honors after the DU Invite and raced to CU Athlete of the Week recognition following NCAA’s. Already named to the All-RMISA First Team, Rivas concluded the season with first team All-America honors in the slalom.

High School/Club – Rivas joined Colorado from the French National Team where he has skied from 2007-09. His best career finish with the national team came at the World Junior Ski Championships when he placed in the top 15. He took second place in the World Scholar Ski Championships when he attended Lycee D’ette D’Albertville before moving on to Universite Savoie.

In the Classroom – Rivas is pursuing a degree in business marketing at Colorado.

Personal – Gabriel Rivas was born January 21, 1986, and is the son of Marie-Christine Augert of St. Jean De Maurienne, France. He has one sibling, Bertrand (23) and belongs to great family of skiers on his mother’s side, the Augert family. Rivas chose to ski collegiately at Colorado because he believes that it is the best University to compete in the sport.

SEASON BY SEASON RESULTS

2009	GS	SL
at Seawolf Invitational	35	2
at Alaska Invitational	25	1
COLORADO INVITATIONAL	18	1
at Western Qualifiers	3	D2
at Denver Invitational	3	2
at RMISA Championships	13	12
at NCAA Championships	18	1

2010	GS	SL
Utah Invitational	DS	---
RMISA Qualifiers	6	3
Montana State Invitational	6	3
New Mexico Invitational	4	DQ
Nevada Invitational	1	2
RMISA Championships	9	2
NCAA Championships	16	DQ